The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

Who makes the cooler? Is that a 120mm fan? Well, you got the 4870x2 really cheap - so ....... hehe.

Sam, going back to those graphs, especially as regards 2560x1600 (I'm trying to set up an appointment to go up to the Valley tomorrow and pick up a new 3007wfp-hc for $850) could you explain the scaling mystery of those crysis graphs?

As Estuansis pointed out, all of a sudden crysis is scaling well for 4870x4. I see 10 fps improvement over 4870x2 over on the right side of each graph - (except the very last graph on minimum fps, for some reason the 4870x4 ends up slightly under the 4870x2 on DX10.)

We have said all along that crysis doesn't see 4 ATI gpus, but these graphs say otherwise. To get 10 fps more, it looks like it might well be worth making sure my psu will support a second 4870x2 for down the road.

What's going on, Sam, with the crysis 4870x4 good scaling?

 

Thermalright, both of them, the HR-03 Rev. A and the V2. The fans are 80mm and 92mm Noctuas, but I'll probably use Zalmans as they have a wide range of speed, and don't sound terrible like the Silverstones or Thermaltakes.
Crysis never used to see 4 ATI GPUs, presumably newer drivers have helped there, much as they have helped with Warhead crossfire performance. However, in the worst parts, the extra GPUs have no work to do.

 

Very interesting. Just so I understand you, you are talking about catalyst drivers - not about anything that crytek has done - is that right?

If so, then are we to conclude that ATI has figured out how to spread out the workload whether or not the game sees all those extra gpus?

I mean, that's a total jaw-dropper :O

All of a sudden, adding a second 4870x2 down the road is beginning to make REAL sense. Let me ask you about power supplies - figuring 300 watts per 4870x2, am I being unrealistic thinking a corsair 850 at $119 is the right psu - should I really be thinking about spending another $100 for 1000 Corsair watts and future-proof the build a little bit? (Particularly if one factors in capacitor aging.)

Back to the graphs, Sam, I didn't quite understand what you said at the end of your post.

Were you explaining the DX10 graph that showed the 4870x4 at actually a lower MINIMUM fps - about 4 fps less - than the regular 4870x2 (although average fps was about 10 fps higher on previous graphs). When you say have no work to do - are you saying that Vista somehow blocks the utilization of the other two gpus in the worst parts - or are you saying that the worst parts are actually cpu-bound somehow - I still don't get why the 4870x4 would drop more fps than 4870x2 - is there some extra overhead of trying to utilize all the gpus?

-Rich

 

hello,
i have a gigabyte hd4670 ( GV-R467D3-512I/ )

i connected this to my HDTV KDS55A2000 LCOS television. when i connect the video card to the television VIA HDMI the picture on the desktop seems "washed out" . i tried to playback The Dark Knight in 720p that i downloaded to test if theis card works or not . the movie playback is in kinda slow motion. the audio is in sync with it but both seem slow.


i have attempted to try the catalyst program from ati cant figure it out. i looked for threads but cant find any on it. i contacted ATI-AMD but the were not asnwering. Abit ( my mother board maker for AW8D) hung up on me when i asked them question lol go figure ...


does anyone know what i should do or ....do i return this video card?

 

I wouldn't necessarily say that they've managed to balance the workload in many titles yet. Crysis is still far from perfect. I would caution against adding another 4870X2, as by the time you can afford one, the newer card, whatever it is will easily outpace two 4870X2s due to the scaling issues of more than 2 GPUs.
With an overclocked quad, two 4870X2s use in the 800s for AC load. While that's within scope of a good 850W PSU, it's cutting it a bit fine, I would say get the HX1000 or ZM1000-HP.
The reason why the fps is lower for four GPUs is that as you say, more GPUs is more CPU power, but also because in the bits that lag out, ATI hasn't sorted out the driver problem. The scaling of multiple GPUs is not a fixed percentage based on the game or the resolution and detail, it varies. Essentially, 4 GPUs work in some areas, but not in others.

oluvinu: Abit will hang up on everyone as they have gone bust and no longer exist.
As for the performance it sounds like a codec problem. What player are you using?

 

Thanks Sam.

Yeah, you're right. I guess I'll end up selling the 4870x2 and buying the new stuff later this summer. I'll go with a 1000 watt psu - might as well not cut it so close.

(On the other hand, I can just as easily sell two 4870x2 as one, so it's still a thought. That 10 fps improvement was compelling!!!)

It will be nice to finally enter the arena of "modern hardware" so I can see what you and Estuansis have been raving about!!

My contact for the 3007 called me this evening - I meet him at 2:00 tomorrow in "the Valley" to do the deal. Keep your fingers crossed - no stuck pixels. He took home four monitors to test out to make sure at least one of them is acceptable to me - hahahaha. So I should be in good shape.

Like I say, keep your fingers crossed everybody. Big step for Rich.

Soon I may be the proud owner of a 30" monitor, with still a p4 to drive it, LOL.

Which game could I really run at that resolution with my 4700+ 3dmark6 system - the first Band of Brothers? Call of Duty 2? For the fun of it, I'll see if any of those titles supported 2560x1600 and crank them up again!! Hahahaha

Rich

 

Four? It shouldn't have been that hard unless they're very old, 3007s are very well built.
Rich, on my X1900 and X2 I could run most older stuff like Unreal 2004 and Counter Strike source at 2560 on pretty much all high settings, your system will function fine graphically, but you will experience the same frame rate caps you do now with your processor.

 

Rich, it may interest you to know that I had a bit of a weak moment, and found a cheap HD4870X2 on ebay and have bought an 850W Zalman PSU to run the pair. I discovered tonight that my X2 does fit in my top slot, after trying hard enough, so I feel rather embarassed about that and apologise to anyone I misinformed. So, with any luck, by the middle of next week I should have two X2s up and running.

 

Sam, the second 4870x2 - that is absolutely fabulous news!! Congratulations for being able to rearrange your motherboard.

What kind of deal can one make on ebay these days?

I am all the more excited about the extra pixel pushing power you are investing in, because I finally brought home the 30" monitor last night - it's perfect! Robert told me that the first monitor he pulled out of the box had a couple stuck pixels - the second was perfect and zero dead pixels as he showed me on the white screen - he said I would have been able to notice little tiny black specs if there were any dead pixels.

I have the big Dell sitting on the table next to the 19". They look good together. But the contrast is so comical, I think I'll try to post a picture.

So I take it, Sam, by this surprise announcement about the second 4870x2, that you were also compelled by those last graphs to "pump up" your average frame rate, lol.

Rich

 

Well, the Sapphire 4870X2s typically go for £345 if you're lucky, £370 ish if you're not. I bagged mine for £270, not quite as good as my first at £245, but hey, prices have gone up in the recession and all...
I wasn't exactly compelled by the last graphs, but I combed ebay just the same and found an extra card with a very low starting bid, turned out to end low as well. I may not end up keeping it, as it's a lot of money to be sat there not doing an awful lot, but Quad crossfire is a bit of a grey area online so I'll try and post some more scientific tests.

 

Hmmmmm,

Good buy!

I may have to take some tips from you on how to be good ebay shopper.

Anyway, until or if you decide to sell the second 4870x2, I will be very interested in seeing what more evidence you find on quad crossfire.

I am really fired up by the crysis graphs you posted. Since I have never played the game, I might as well spend the extra $500, when I get the money together later (I can always get 2/3 of that money back later on ebay) in order to get that extra 10fps so I can crank up the 2560x1600 settings and immerse myself in that crysis experience that estuansis was raving about.

That's especially important because I take it there is a huge improvement in graphics quality going from high to very high, isn't that correct? (Don't they also have an ultra-high - although that might still be out of reach even for quad crossfire - but perhaps the ultra-high crack will help.)

Rich

 

Not really, Ultra-high is a detail setting hack, and such hacks usually have negative impacts in as much abundance as positive ones, and I don't mean performance.
As much as I'm interested in how quad CF handles Crysis I'm also interested in seeing its performance in Crysis Warhead, as contrary to what the developers stated, it's much more demanding than the original.

 

hello sammorris,

i have used windows media player , zoom media player , and media player classic. all 3 have juddering sound a min or so after i play the movie. at first it is in sync but then it is completely out of sync and the juddering sound starts. my processor runs between 72 and 84 percent usage when i playback the movie...resident evil degeneration 1080p mkv h.264 .


not sure if i mentioned i have a Pentium D 3.4 Ghz processors and 3 GB of PC 6400.


what codec might it be do you think?


thank for any help

 

The CPU is quite slow but it should be able to handle that. Try installing CoreAVC.

 

Ok, so for 2560x1600 guys, ultra high crysis will remain out of reach for now, hack or no hack.

Do you run GTA4 full 2560x1600? I recall you do - but at what settings? As I recall, that's the game that's cpu bound and you recommend 4 ghz 9550. I take it you don't expect to see any gain with the additional 4870x2 on that title.

 

lol, i did but i am not sure how or what i need to configure it to work. i downloaded the 14 day trial to see if it first works. do you know what i might need to use ?


thanks for the help

 

Haha hell no. I run it at 1680x1050 on reduced settings, that's as much as an HD4870X2 can manage. I don't expect to see a gain with 4 GPUs as I don't think it even uses two properly.

olivinu: Just install it and run mediaplayer classic, see how it runs.

 

hello,

i installed the core avc program and when i run the 720p dark knight movie it works fine with media player classic. when i run resident evil degeneration the audio and video are still going out of sync. any ideas ...im all ears since i am at a loss


another thing i noticed not sure if it has any correlation , but the windows start up tune and the other windows noiced when i am on the web pages don't have any sound ,BUT when i play a movie back it does...and i don't know why ???
i am running a HDMI cable to my HDTV and using the tv speakers as the desktop speakers


thank you for your quick reply

 

Default audio device is not set to be 'HD Audio'.

 

ok i have set everything i can to the ati hd audio output. but it still the same.


is their anything else i can do to get the av in sync when playing a 1080p movie ??

thanks for any help